Who invests so much time, funds and materials to develop a hunting gun, only to use it for shooting ants? Such a person will not only be considered an investment novice, but a thoughtless person with a leaking investment. Some Nigerian officials have lamented that Nigerian graduates are not ready to do odd jobs in order to succeed. Some justify their positions by displaying Nigerian graduates who have “adjusted” to commercial motorcycles “okada”, tricycle and other menial jobs. A Nigerian governor was reported to have purchased wheel-barrows as a way of employing Nigerian graduates in his state.

Education is a process designed “to give knowledge to or develop the abilities of somebody by teaching.”[1] It is a process of training people to collaborate with others in a society for productivity and sustenance. Society’s sustenance is guaranteed by the ability of citizens to produce what they consume and TOOLS FOR THE PRODUCTION.[2] Hence, progressive societies invest by teaching their citizens how to extract, process, distribute and utilize the resources in their environment.[3] But the expenses on education would be considered a leaking investment when trained citizens fail to be productive.
The Nigerian government budgets between 300-400 billion Naira[4] yearly for the education of millions of Nigerians. Yet after these expenses, the Nigerian government fails to utilize the knowledge and strength of youth in necessary production from local resources. Instead, the Nigerian government sells off the militarily confiscated local resources to foreign companies. The foreign companies utilize the local resources to produce machineries and commodities to be imported for Nigerian use.
It appears that the main people who practice what they studied in Nigerian universities are the doctors and nurses. Many other science graduates (pharmacists and engineers) who were trained to use mineral resources for production remain jobless and hopeless. Some of the could-have-been producers resort to counting, marketing and managing imported goods, ideas and services. The Nigerian system of education and economic environment consequently mass-produces counters and marketers against true producers of commodities. The unemployment of Nigerian science graduates in the process of production manifests the hopeless situation of Nigerian education as a leaking investment.
Without access to resources for production, education in Nigeria will remain a Greek-gift-settlement to keep the Nigerian youth busy. It remains a leaking investment instead of a real investment in citizens as agents of social development and productivity. Hence, the Nigerian youths must organize themselves according to their ethnic communities to demand possession/access to their resources for productivity. Then they can decide how to decide how to collaborate and partner with other people to maximize productivity.
[1] Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
[2] Chukwunwike Enekwechi, YouWin: government’s MMM abi lottery, obtained on 16th August 2017. http://restartnaija.com/2017/08/16/youwin-governments-mmm-abi-lottery/
[3] Chukwunwike Enekwechi, Nigeria does not need your education.
[4]Channels Television. December 22, 2015, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday presented a 2016 budget proposal of 6.07 trillion Naira. http://www.channelstv.com/2015/12/22/breakdown-of-nigerias-2016-budget/